The idea of beauty, and how we perceive it, is continually evolving. Thanks to certain means such as technology, people are now able to define beauty standards in a totally new way. Phones allow people to have a greater control of their image and what was perhaps considered beautiful centuries ago, or even decades ago, is quickly dissolving into a more inclusive and inventive realm. The greatest painters in history have represented beauty in a way that, although restricted, is perhaps familiar to us, but these standards are changing. Artists around the globe are reconsidering this conventional way of viewing beauty and realising an entirely new beauty trend. One of those artists is 3D-make-up artist extraordinaire, Ines Alpha, a digital artist whose postmodern hybrid of makeup and technology is taking the idea of beauty to the next level.

Ines Alpha began her career working as an art director from 2009 to 2017 in an advertising company that specialised in cosmetics and luxury. During this time she started to experiment with 3D software and to “wonder how 3D elements would look like on a human face, accidentally creating my vision of what would be the future of beauty”. She quickly became freelance, continuing to work on beauty, self-image and face transformation, which led her to be at the forefront of the “three-dimensional digital makeup revolution”. “Working in an advertising company taught me how to present my work, how to make it accessible to everyone and to help people project things that are going to be made in the future” she explains. “But what I am trying to do with 3D makeup,” she continues, “is to push the boundaries of beauty and to have more freedom with my aesthetic, by working on digitalised bodies. It can sound abstract, especially as it presents limitations in terms of using it in the real world, but nowadays people are spending most of their time online and that is their reality. It’s all very digital and it’s all very real. I have always been interested in the idea of creating an augmented reality and 3D makeup is essentially limitless.”

In her art Alpha uses creative ways of mixing beauty with existing digital tools, bringing her inventive ideas into reality and as a result, she has realised a completely new kind of makeup: e-makeup. Can she say what e-makeup, or 3D makeup, is exactly? “It’s simple. It’s make-up but in 3D. You could describe it as elements you add onto your face to transform it, using 3D software. With 3D you can do anything you want,” she explains. “You can create your own reality, play with shapes and textures that simply don’t exist in the IRL world. Using all these new digital tools to experiment with makeup, face-tracking for example, came very naturally to me. The way I see it, makeup is about transforming your face, whether you use foundation, powders, pigments, objects, plastic surgery, filters, or 3D software.” Alpha clearly follows her own rules and has managed to create a particular universe that is inspiring and distinctive. “I think my universe is dream-like because I like to make things that don’t exist in the real world. I like to make versions of reality that are fantastical, and with 3D you can defy the laws of gravity and physics. It’s also super-exciting to imagine that the universe I create could potentially exist in another dimension. And maybe even in the near future as well.” 

By developing e-makeup and creating a distinctive style, Alpha has attracted all kinds of artists and has collaborated with a variety of musicians, models, and brands. She created the visuals for Charli XCX’s latest EP Charli, made 3D make-up augmented reality masks for Nike’s Air Max Plus TN 20th anniversary, and worked with Selfridges on The New Order campaign, interpreting some of their top beauty products in 3D. Other names include Bimba Y Lola, Panteros666 (a frequent collaborator), and @madroni_redclock (“she has her own style, transforms her face into a work of art. Her art could be the make-up of the near future.”). Even the virtual Instagram character Lil Miquela, an AI influencer who has a following of 2 million people, describes Alpha’s creations as “the kind of thing a robot might wear to the Met Gala in the year 3052”.

“I love to collaborate,” Alpha informs me. “To me, there is nothing better in the world than finding the right artistic connection, uniting different skills, styles, and backgrounds. I’m not that keen on working by myself. That’s why I began asking around to see if any artists that I like would be interested in wearing some of my 3D makeup.” For Alpha, makeup is a way of expressing yourself, having fun, and playing around. “I draw inspiration from the people I collaborate with and try to fit their personalities in as much as I can. I like to analyse my collaborators, look for colours, shape, personality traits… I am definitely into makeup that reveals personality” Any dream collaborators? “I would love to collaborate with Björk. That would be a lifetime achievement.” 

Lucky for us, Ines Alpha has also made her work accessible to the public by creating Instagram and Snapchat AR filters, so that “everyone can try them”. She wants people to express themselves and have fun with her designs. “It’s just crazy to see how people can play and tell stories with your creations. I see things I would have never even thought of! I am super happy to be able to democratise my art through different social media platforms and one day I hope that 3D makeup will become a casual look we can see on the streets.” Alpha’s work has undoubtedly opened doors in terms of how we see and experience makeup but it also has a very clear aim: to collectively rise above beauty standards. “They need to evolve.” she urges. “Because we need to live in a world where everyone can feel beautiful.”

Credits:
Words by Roxanne Nielsen
Artwork by Ines Alpha

Art Credits:
1# Still Life from 3D Makeup Collaboration with @lokidolor (2018)
2# Still Life from 3D Body Makeup Collaboration with @isshehungry (2019)
3# Video of 3D Body Makeup Collaboration with @isshehungry (2019)
4# Still Life from 3D Body Makeup (2020)
5# Video of 3D Body Makeup (2020)
6# Still Life from 3D Makeup Collaboration with @nana_younggrongkim (2018)
7# Still Life from 3D Makeup Collaboration with @kaya_kozo (2019)
8# Video of 3D Makeup Collaboration with @kaya_kozo (2019)
9# Still Life from 3D Makeup Collaboration with @rubyrubygloom (2018)
10# Still Life from 3D Makeup Collaboration with Asung Ko (2019)
11# Still Life from 3D Makeup Present to @lilmiquela (2019)
12# Video of 3D Makeup Collaboration with Asung Ko (2019)
13# Still Life from 3D Makeup Collaboration with @madroni_redclock (2019)
14# Video of 3D Makeup Collaboration with @madroni_redclock (2019)

Music by @panteros666

On the second day of the opening of the 58th Biennale di Venezia, I rush past the entire exhibition in the main space with one specific art piece in mind. I wandered through the exhibition in the Arsenale, the former navy yard of Venice, to see Alex Da Corte’s Rubber Pencil Devil, alongside some new sculptures by Nicole Eisenman and a new Arthur Jafa video, not to mention some old favourites such as Christian Marclay, Hito Steyerl, Dahn Vo, Henry Taylor, George Condo.

But the Biennale is also the place where you discover new artists. For example, the strong portrait photography in b/w by self-proclaimed South African “visual activist” Zanele Muholi, the piritual and political paintings of Michael Armitage from Kenya, and the Instagram-sensation of artistic duo Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s creepy AI-machines all caught my attention for the first time as I moved through the former Venetian shipyards.

The title for this years edition of the Biennale “May You Live In Interesting Times” was originally believed to be an old Chinese curse used in the 1930’s by a British politician. This turned out to be a rather unfortunate misinterpretation. But I imagine this is somehow what the curator Ralph Rugoff is after – to display our world of misinterpreted sayings and fake news in a strange post-digital (and interesting, to say the least) period. For this edition of the Biennale, the American curator, who has been the director of the Hayward Gallery in London since 2006, has invited 79 global artists with almost half coming in under 40. With the large scale exhibition he wants to show “how art works in an era of lies”.

When I reach my destination inside the Arsenale, I part the curtains and a very different world awaits me. The massive screen in the dark room is covered with a patterned carpet and sculptural lounge chairs are spread throughout the room, an easy place to immerse myself into the world that is Dream Journal by Jon Rafman. A surreal, animated fantasy world with strange hybrids of humans, animals and monsters. Or sometimes, just body parts. The main character, a young girl with a cap that reads “Xanax”, evolves during the story to a body built hero in her quest to find her companion – a sort of a seal animal hybrid with the head of a boy (!?). That’s kind of the plot. The one hour and 45 minute long journey takes the viewer through a paradox of landscapes, from cityscape and deserts, heaven and hell, nightclubs and schools, and is accompanied by a cyber-punk digital soundtrack.

I first stumbled upon Jon Rafman’s work in London when he showed at the Zabludowicz Collection a few years back. I’ve been a fan ever since I was floating in a pool filled with plastic balls to watch one of his surreal videos. The catalogue for the Biennale mentions that this fantasy world was conceived by the artist “through a combination of lucid dreaming and automatic writing”. It explores a personal world which we all have in common (the dream) but rarely share. The dream is even more free than the internet and in Dream Journal we together experience a digital interpretation of this. With its computer game aesthetics it feels very direct, almost logical. Rafman has been named the godfather of post-internet and Dream Journal is a masterpiece not to be missed.

Earlier in the day I had a different kind of digital experience. This time on my own, within my own world, but in the company of Marina Abramović. It was just the two of us, lots of water and then a collapsing raft. Her latest project is a Virtual Reality piece produced together with Acute Art, which is the leading VR producer of contemporary art. Rising [2018] is shown at Palazzo Ca’ Rezzonico with art and culture organisation Phi, and is an impressive experience. But you don’t have to go all the way to Venice to try to save Abramović from drowning. Through the companies app, her and several other VR artists work can be viewed (don’t miss Djurberg Berg’s creepy tale). However, of all the digital realms I’ve experienced, Rafmans 2D dream is what I long to go back to.

The 58th edition of the Venice Biennale goes on until the 24th of November

Team Credits:

Words by Jonas Kleerup

Picture Credits:

#1, #3 Jon Rafman, Dream Journal 2016-2019, 2019. Colour HD video with stereo sound. Music by James Ferraro and Oneohtrix Point Never. Runtime: 94 min 01 sec. Courtesy of the artist.
#2, #4 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times, Jon Rafman, Dream Journal 2016-2019 (2019); photograph by Italo Rondinella, courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia
#5 Marina Abramović. Courtesy of Acute Art ((2018)
#6 Marina Abramović, still from the behind the scenes of Rising. Courtesy of Acute Art (2018)

This spring, the cultural centre Schunck, in Heerlen, in the south of the Netherlands, is presenting Basquiat – The Artist and His New York Scene, an affecting show that provides a window into the life and work of the legendary artist during 1979-1980, the year before he became famous.

Before becoming an art icon, Basquiat was just like any other kid trying to get by in New York City. This exhibition showcases his output during these crucial 12 months of his life, when he shared an apartment with his girlfriend Alexis Adler on East 12th Street. The selection of work captures the most intimate and complete image of the artist possible. Thanks to the 100 photographs taken by Adler throughout this period, as well as paintings, sculpture and other works by Basquiat, the public are being given the opportunity to follow his path during what might have been the most significant year of development.

The true path to creativity is to burn out

– Jean-Michel Basquiat

The New York art scene at the time was booming. The late 1970s and beginning of the 1980s were a time of evolution: the place of art in society was moving from the realm of the upper classes to the young and hip. Starting out as a street artist in the 1970s, Basquiat first became known for his SAMO graffiti tag, which became the talk of the town as the enigmatic epigrams and short mysterious phrases associated with it started appearing on the streets of Manhattan. One could say that 1979 was the year of real creative exploration for the artist, before painting took precedence, as he pursued music, performance art, drawing and writing with equal, burning passion.

The exhibition that saw Basquiat’s breakthrough on the art scene was the massive and legendary Times Square Show of the summer of 1980. This was his first show both as the graffitist SAMO and as a painter. Together with other likeminded artists, such as Keith Haring, Nan Goldin and Jenny Holzer, Basquiat presented a new, groundbreaking way of looking at art. It has been said that show changed the New York art scene forever and the Schunk exhibition includes 50 original works from it. Influenced by Andy Warhol, Basquiat went on to become one of the most-celebrated artists of the era and a key member of the neo-expressionist movement in the 1980s. Although Warhol initially distanced himself from the young artist’s approaches, the 1980s cool kid and the king of pop art later came to form a lasting friendship. In just a few years, Basquiat created most of his career’s important pieces at a tremendous pace. At the same time, he became the first black artist to gain respect from an art world that was changing.

By the middle of the decade, he was a fully recognised, wealthy and famous artist, but in August 1988, at the age of only 27, he died from a heroin overdose. Though he was gone, he was never forgotten. He “joined” what has become known as the 27 Club, whose “members” consist of famous artists and musicians and actors who have died at this age, often as the result of alcohol or drug abuse; Basquiat’s death thus fuelled the hype around his work and talent. And as so often happens, after his passing, his work was universally feted by the art world. In May 2017, a 1982 skull painting of his sold for $110.5m at Sotheby’s New York, making it the most expensive work by an American artist ever sold at auction. Today, the myths and stories about Basquiat and his work continue to engage new generations of art lovers.

His premature death, less than 10 years after the exhibition that made him famous, makes the focus of the Schunck exhibition even more fascinating. It allows us a glimpse at the young artist’s progress and helps us understand how he achieved cult status. In a way, what we see is Basquiat in the final days of his innocence. Just as the original exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver in 2017 made waves around the US art scene, the correlating showcase of the exhibition in Heerlen is already doing the same in Europe. Not only a broad selection of Basquiat’s early brightly coloured canvases and drawings, it shares precious memories of his daily life spent in New York’s East Village.

Basquiat – The Artist and His New York Scene, until June 2; Schunck, Bongerd 18, Heerlen, the Netherlands (schunck.nl). Includes guided tours, film screenings and graffiti workshops

Team Credits:

Words by Ted Hammerin

Picture Credits:

#1 Basquiat at work in 1982 in the basement below the gallery of Annina Nosei; photograph by Marion Busch
#2-3 Jean – Michel Basquiat. Performing in the apartment, c1979–1980, Basquiat Before Basquiat: East 12th Street, 1979-1980, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver; Photographs by Alexis Adler
#4 Times Square Show, New York City, 1980; photograph by Francine Keery
#5 Painted television in the apartment, c1979–1980, Basquiat Before Basquiat: East 12th Street, 1979-1980, Museum of Contemporary. Art Denver; Photograph by Alexis Adler
#6 Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam / Creditline; photography by . Studio Tromp, Rotterdam
#7 Photography by Carl Brunn – Ludwig Forum Aachen
#8 Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kings of Egypt III (1982), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; photograph by Studio Tromp, Rotterdam

In Velvet Buzzsaw, the recently released Netflix horror movie set in the art world, Jake Gyllenhaal plays an influential art critic who visits Art Basel Miami. In one scene, he dismisses a high-tech robotic sculpture on display: “Wolfson, Female Figure, four years ago… An iteration. No originality, no courage.” Having his name and work mentioned in a major film about the art world is clear evidence of the status the 38-year-old American artist Jordan Wolfson has achieved. Wolfson’s Female Figure of 2014 is an elaborate robotic sculpture in a dirty but seductive outfit that dances in front of a mirror it’s permanently attached to with a pole. Her face is covered with an evil-looking Venetian mask and, through it, her dark, piercing eyes glue themselves to the viewer in the room as she dances to pop songs and delivers monologues. The robot was created using animatronics (the technique first used by Disney in the early 1960s), combined with a facial-recognition programme that controls her gaze. Wolfson worked over a long period with Hollywood technicians to create the work, which instantly had a huge impact on the art world.

In 2016, while running around galleries in Chelsea, New York, I stumbled upon Wolfson’s Colored Sculpture at David Zwirner: it left me stunned. When you’ve seen numerous artworks in all types of media throughout your life, you rarely get that affected. But witnessing a giant puppet-on-a-string type of Howdy Doody doll being dragged around the gallery floor by heavy chains suspended from a mechanised gantry was something completely different. The puppet’s hypnotic blue eyes follow you throughout its tortuous performance and a strange kind of relationship develops between it and the viewer. The heavy physical presence in combination with the digital technology (the puppet’s eyes also have facial recognition) create a theatrical sensation that is hard to shake off. Suddenly, a Percy Sledge song comes over loudspeakers at high volume, almost bringing you back to reality.

When asked about the music he often mixes in, Wolfson says, “The way I choose it is intuitive. I’ll hear hundreds of songs and try them for size in my head, but the ones that work are the most effortless intuitions and I just see it with the imagery and so I trust it.” What about popular culture in general? It is so present in all of Wolfson’s work that I wonder if he still can consume popular culture. “I don’t really try to see culture. I’m just looking out at it and when I purposely open myself to the space of a new project, things organically come in.” Moderna Museet in Stockholm is currently presenting Riverboat Song, a recent video work by Wolfson that the museum has purchased for its collection. Despite being video, this installation is also very physical – the room is filled with lush purple carpet and the giant screen faces the back wall so you almost have to squeeze yourself in front of it.

The animation features a typical Wolfson character getting chopped up by a witch, as well as smoking rats in an aeroplane. Such scenes are mixed with found videos from the internet, including of how to slice an apple and a rough beating. It’s over the top, weird and thought-provoking all at the same time, almost dreamlike. Working with so many technologies, what impact does Wolfson think they all have on our minds? Is our ability to differentiate between the real world, the online world and our minds and dreams altered by what we see? “I think they are all separated by physical activity and our bodies’ position. For example, I’m sitting on a desk chair typing to you with full attention, when I’m looking at VR I’m standing up, when I’m surfing the internet maybe I’m leaning more forward and my body is at ease. For me, consciousness is consciousness divided by physical body orientation.” Wolfson’s first solo gallery exhibition took place at Brändström & Stene in Stockholm in 2002, so his present show at Moderna Museet is not his first time in Sweden. While studying for a BFA in sculpture at Rhode Island School of Design, he also took part in an exchange year at Konstfack, so I wondered how strong his connection with the Swedish capital is. “I’m not nostalgic, so I don’t have an emotional response to being back, but it is very nice to see old friends,” he told me when we met briefly during the installation of Riverboat Song at Moderna. And as for what’s next… “I’m beginning a new VR work, an animatronic work, and a series of graphic works focused on JFK Jr.”

Riverboat Song, until September 1; Moderna Museet, Stockholm.

Team Credits:

Words by Jonas Kleerup
Portraits by John Scarisbrick

Picture Credits:

#1-2 John Scarisbrick
#3-4 Riverboat Song (2017), Stills from digital video, 7:28 minutes, © Jordan Wolfson
#5 Installation view, Jordan Wolfson, Colored sculpture (2016) in Manic / Love (Part 1), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2017) © Jordan Wolfson, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London, and David Zwirner, New York/London; photography by Gert Jan van Rooij (David Zwirner)
#6 Installation view, Jordan Wolfson, Female figure (2014) in Truth / Love (Part 2), Stedelijk Museum (2017) © Jordan Wolfson, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London, and David Zwirner, New York/London; photography by Gert Jan van Rooij (David Zwirner)

Aline Schwibbe

Tell us about your artistic practice.
“I studied painting, but my approach to it was always more conceptual. I usually start with a drawing and I like to use different surfaces to draw on. My artistic language is much influenced by multiple- exposure photography. I do layering and I combine things that usually don’t go together, such as abstract and figurative elements. I like clashing of contradictory elements. “In my artistic practice I like to envision and make visible the experiences that aren’t easy to envision or articulate, such as memories and mental processes. I am also very interested in identity, fragmented states of identity and relationships within oneself.”

You also work with photography, right?
“Yes, I use a camera that is capable of making multiple exposed images. It’s a Minolta xD5. In 2014 I also made a series of double-exposed Polaroids. Unfortunately, the camera broke because it wasn’t supposed to do double exposure and I basically forced it [Laughs.]. I also scanned the negatives myself and I loved the process of it. I am not a professional photographer but I know as much about photography as I need to in order to produce my artworks.”

Some of your work features different items of clothing. Why?
“I am interested in clothes as tools of expression of one’s identity. It’s like a language. I’ve always been interested in clothing and dressed up a lot as a kid. This past summer, while I was doing a residency in New York, I worked with white women’s blazers. A blazer as a piece of clothing has a meaning, which can differ depending on the person. “Clothing in general can indicate a person’s social status, and thus show what spaces the person has access to and in what ways. I’m thinking here of workers’ uniforms and business suits, but also certain brands and styles as signifiers of a person’s heritage, class, or even a movement or group they belong to.”

Does living in Berlin influence your work?
“I lived here from 2009 until 2012. Then I took off and lived in many places for a while. After being in San Francisco, it felt very natural to me to come back and live in Berlin again. It had changed a lot. It’s harder to survive as an artist than it used to be.“What I like about Berlin is that it’s big and has many different areas. You can take a tram and in 30 minutes find yourself in a completely different area that is not necessarily reflected in the art scene. The art that is shown across the galleries is quite homogenous and not as multicultural as Berlin actually is. A lot has to change in terms of gender equality – female artists are still underrepresented. “My work is always influenced by where I live, so Berlin has been quite influential lately. I have been feeling quite settled here, more than I used to before, so I guess my work radiates a certain level of comfort and confidence.”

What is your take on social media? Do you use Instagram to promote your artwork?
“It’s quite a complicated relationship. As an artist I think it’s great to use Instagram to promote one’s work, but I also think it’s important to disengage from it sometimes. I hear about artists who change their practice in order to make their artworks more Instagrammable. That is absolutely unimaginable. This summer I did a series of white paintings on white, and they didn’t photograph well, but I wouldn’t change my artwork for the sake of getting a perfect Instagram picture. In general, I’m trying to get a healthy balance between images of work and personal pictures.”

alineschwibbe.de

Jorinde Voigt

Does living in Berlin influence your work?
“As an artist you are always influenced by your surroundings, the people you meet, your daily routine, and on the greater scale by the society you are living in. In that sense, Berlin does influence my work. I strongly identify with the city. This identification creates a certain energy and opens up potential for creation. When you identify with the city you automatically have a positive starting point.”

Please tell us about your artistic practice.
“In my practice I am looking for ways of notation and artistic expression of the topics I am interested in at a particular moment in my life. My working process includes the identification of different topics of interest, decision-making regarding materials, and creating the actual piece, which means arranging the topics in a non-hierarchical structure in order to create stability. My work explores the ways of expression of different layers of perception and communication.”

Can you take me through your creative process?
“First of all I dye white paper with colour in order to create a a starting point. I spread the paper on the floor, walk over it, find the centre and mark my scope. I have to see how far I can reach. It’s important for me to get in the right mood, find the right sensitivity and to get in contact with the paper space from different angles. When it’s done I mark my positions. What follows is the reflective process. I cover the paper with foil. Based on previous marks and positions I cut out shapes and cover them with pigment powder. The next step is sketching, where I employ the typographic model of the torus, a known model of perception that is used across disciplines like cosmology but also topography. I also use the element of rotation and movement in my sketches, which refers to movement and change as an integral parameter of the world.”

I really like your Immersion series. The pieces look very similar to one another without being identical. When I look at the series as a whole I think of frames of a film.
“Immersion is a time-based series. Each piece has been created one after another and it represents a different moment in time. When you look at the series as a whole you can see the exact connection between those moments. In real life you focus on each moment at a time and you can’t stop and zoom out in order to see the bigger picture. “The Immersion series is a multilayered work. There is a layer of colours, where each one evokes a certain emotion or experience and creates a specific atmosphere. Another layer is created through application of gold. As a top layer it waves through the previous layers and creates nonstop new hierarchy. The series is structured in a musical way. It displays rhythmic actions and motifs that are interconnected.”

What significance does colour have in your artwork?
“I choose colours depending on whatever colour I worked with in my previous piece. If I used blue before I might feel like using yellow. This way my artworks are interconnected as parts of an ongoing colour-based dialogue. I also think of colour in terms of how it makes me feel and what the psychological and physical effects of each colour are. The blue colour is calming. The yellow has the opposite effect. It’s awakening. These are parameters that influence the choice of the colour palette.”

When and why did you start to work with gold?
“In 2010. At the time I had been delving into the work of Arthur Schopenhauer – The Art of Being Happy. I wanted to find a material that could represent philosophical thoughts on the abstract level of visual art. I chose gold because it’s a hermetic yet reflective material. These parameters are also characteristic of Schopenhauer’s philosophy.”

How do you choose what you wear?
“I choose clothes that allow me to move freely when I work. I don’t follow fashion but I like to watch what people wear. For me, the work of a designer is similar to that of an artist – the designer starts with a drawing, then makes a pattern. They have to re-envision it in 3D as an actual piece of clothing. In my work every created piece is part of a visual vocabulary that can be reimagined, restructured and reused in a different way, bringing a shift in the context or delivering a comment on whatever is going on in society.”

What’s coming up for you?
“Three exhibitions – at McNamara Art Projects, Hong Kong, Klosterfelde Editionen in Berlin, and the Hive Centre for Contemporary Art in Beijing – and a solo presentation at The Armory Show in New York by David Nolan. Each will have a different concept.”

jorindevoigt.com

Constance Tenvik

Fashion and costumes seem to play quite an important role in your work. Looking at your drawings and paintings, your characters often wear certain colours or brands, such as Fila or Chloé. Why is this important for you?
“I often draw portraits of my friends, so whatever they are wearing becomes part of the artwork as much as little details, like Ritter Sport chocolate on the table. Such details are connected to certain places and memories, and they place the artwork in a specific context in terms of space and time. “This series of portraits is part of my practice that also includes other artistic forms, such as costumes, music, scenography and film. My other work revolves around certain shapes and colours. My drawings can become costumes and more… I’ve always been interested in tableaux vivant – the tradition of making paintings come alive through dressing up and posing. “I don’t come from a fashion background and I never studied pattern making, but I am becoming increasingly interested in these aspects of making costumes. I like the extension-of-the-body aspect of fashion. I save all the costumes that I have designed for my exhibitions so they are part of my personal archive. Whether I ever design a clothing line remains to be seen… But if I do, it will definitely be art for art’s sake and the clothes would have to relate to ideas and memories as much as the rest of my work does.”

What topics are you exploring in your artistic practice?
“I am a curious person and I’m interested in a range of disciplines and topics, such as history, literature and art. For past shows I decided to go into quite specific stories, such as the tale of Tristan und Isolde. My work [for the show] Soft Armour was based on a very specific historical event, a disastrous attempt to restage a medieval joust at a Scottish castle in 1839. “My current show is inspired by xavier de Maistre’s A Journey Around My Room, which is about a guy who loses a duel and is put under house arrest and stuck in a room for three weeks or so. He decides to make a big grand journey but he can’t leave the room. The boundaries between his own imagination and a room he is locked in become very blurry. “I also looked at Joris-Karl Huysmans’ À rebours, which also tells of being trapped in a house and in your own thoughts. For years I’ve been making mind maps, which to me is like walking into someone’s head. Making mind maps, reading and thinking are part of my baseline activities and my artistic practice. I’m also interested in the complexities of humanity, such as how you say one thing and feel another, and looking at yourself and your shadow self… ”

What’s coming up?
“Until the beginning of May, I have an exhibition with five other artists at Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo [where she was born], called Sun and Spring in January. My installation is called Voyage Autour de Ma Chambre. I feel very happy and honoured to be part of this exhibition. I have a big space just for my work. And the organisers even hired a fantastic writer to follow me for a whole year in order to write the catalogue for the exhibition. They really want to give young artists the chance to make their artistic dreams come true.
“For this exhibition I made a whole installation with a big woven piece and wallpaper. People can buy the wallpaper, which means they can take a part of the exhibition home. “I will also be having a solo show in London and releasing a publication in Paris.”

What is your take on social media, especially Instagram?
“I would say I use it as a visual diary. Sometimes it’s a bit of a burden. It can be a bit addictive and exhausting, but it can also be very inspiring. I also use it to show behind the scenes of my working process. For example, for the Soft Armour show I went to Scotland and tried to make a video, which kind of failed but then my followers could see me there and the castle where the tournament took place, which also then became part of the journey and thus part of the artwork.”

Does living in Berlin influence your work?
“Yes it does, as it’s my base now. I experience things here that I don’t experience in any other city. For example, I find that in Berlin you can meet a lot of people who are interested in spirituality or ways of coming together and collectivity.”

constancetenvik.com

Ana Lessing Menjibar

Tell us about your artistic practice.
“It combines contemporary dance, performance and visual arts. I am working with photography, video, installation and live performance as means of expression. I studied flamenco from an early age, so I am using it as a source of inspiration and as a language in my art. The body serves as a starting point for confrontations with social and emotional topics in relation to space, time or society. “Another big part of my artistic practice is the music. I am creating sound with my own body – not only with my voice, but also with my feet or even based on my heartbeat… I am using digital technology and my body to create a multisensory experience that explores society’s relationship to virtual identity and self-presentation, alienation from nature, and the hyper-realities in which we live. Technology versus human experience is therefore one of the topics I am very interested in.”

I was very lucky to witness one of your rehearsals at your studio. How important is sound for your artistic practice?
“I was born in Berlin and grew up listening to good, deep electronic music that makes your body vibrate. I also know this sort of electricity that suddenly emerges in your body while you’re dancing. The music creates its own language inside your body by making it vibrate and shake. It’s very physical. I think about music in a physical way. I also like to work with extreme oppositions, like silence versus explosion of sound. I like to push the comfort zone.”

You also work with spoken words.
“I have always been interested in the Dada movement. I love the typography they developed and the way they worked with words. For a long time I was only interested in how they visualised the language, but recently I started to think about it more in terms of speaking like how spoken words stimulate your body in a certain way. I feel a strong connection to my native language, which is German. This is why I decided to work with German literature/poetry in my performances. When I speak English the words don’t affect me as much as they do when I speak German.”

Video and photography are also part of your artistic practice…
“My performances are always the base for my photography and video art. I film them and work with them further in postproduction. This production process works like palimpsest in analogy to an old document that shows different layers superimposed on top of one another that affect each other, thus creating a new reality. An actual performance is the first layer, or ‘the past’. The photography or the capturing of the performance on camera is the new layer, ‘the present’. The latter can be turned into a new narrative through postproduction. For my video art pieces I work both in nature and indoors but it’s always about creating body sculptures in space.”

Do you use social media?
“No, I I feel healthier when I don’t use them. The constant flow of information creates too much noise that affects my mind.”

What’s coming up?
“Currently I am participating in the performanceart master’s programme Solo/Dance/Authorship at [Berlin University of the Arts] Inter-University Centre for Dance, so I am entirely focusing on my research at the moment. I will have my first public performance that I am developing within this program in July at Uferstudios. The final performance will be in December.”

analessingmenjibar.com

Team Credits:

Words and styling by Veronika Dorosheva
Portraits by Julia Grossi

Picture Credits:

Aline Schwibbe
#1 Julia Grossi
#2 Artwork by Aline Schwibbe
#3 Installation views of A Thousand Names of Something Else (2019), solo exhibition curated by Katharina Wendler, DZIALDOV, Berlin, Germany; photographs by Carlos Noriega
#4 Fearless Flowers (I Move Through Chicago Like Honey) (2018), solo exhibition curated by Magdalena J. Härtelova, White Pearl Gallery Prague, Czech Republic; photographs by Eva Malúšová
Jorinde Voigt
#1 Julia Grossi
#2 Jorinde Voigt, Immer sive Integral– Firm Radiance IV (2018/19)
#3  Jorinde Voigt, Immersive Integral – Zenith XII (2018)
#4 Jorinde Voigt, Synchronicity (2) (2015)
#5 Jorinde Voigt, Immersive Integral II (2018)
Constance Tenvik
#1 Julia Grossi
#2-5 Installation views of Voyage Autour de Ma Chambre (2019), Sun and spring in january exhibition, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo; photographs by Christian Øen
Ana Lessing Menjibar
#1-2 Ana Lessing Menjibar , SOMAT OWAAG E (2016)
#3 Ana Lessing Menjibar, Tientos (2015)
#4 Julia Grossi
#5 Ana Lessing Menjibar, Buleria (2015)
#6 Ana Lessing Menjibar, KÖRPERNOTATION (2014)

Fashion Credits:

#1 Aline wears Jumpsuit by Belize
#10 Constance wears Top & Trousers by Kenzo, Sunglasses by Gentle Monster, Earrings by Julia Seemann
#18 Ana wears Jacket by Jil Sander, Top by Balenciaga

Alice Folker Gallery is located in the center of Copenhagen, on the fifth floor of a building in a side street, next to tourist hot-spot Nyhavn. It is relatively hidden and once you reach the gallery, it immediately feels like a familiar and welcoming place. “The light here is quite extraordinary. There is a beautiful natural light and an intimate atmosphere. Artists love this kind of space as a studio because you can really see everything that you do, and it also helps brighten up the colours” Alice Folker tells me. Folker is the owner of the gallery and a curator, who has worked hard to create a space that enables emerging artists to have a platform where they can showcase their art and use as a work space. Although she predominantly works with Danish artists, she has also worked with artists from Sweden, France, Germany and China. But her main focus is to work with emerging artists, for example those who, like Frederik Næblerød, have just graduated from art-school. “I just tend to gravitate towards young artists. Emerging artists are appealing to me because they represent something very new and exciting. I want to follow their careers and development, keep an eye on them for the next thirty to forty years. That’s exciting to me. I like artists that are a bit underground, so I keep a lookout for the new ones.”

Her current exhibition OFF-GRID focuses on a collaboration between two young Danish artists, Casper Aguila and Frederik Næblerød and their joint project Korshage (2015-2017), a work that was nominated for the art critic award AICA in 2018. Korshage revolves around an abandoned house close to the coast in the north of Denmark that became uninhabitable due to a storm, some three years ago. Curious and intrigued, the artists took over the space and renovated it to their liking, by changing the architecture, painting the floors and placing reflective foil on the outside as a way to catch the sunlight and surrounding. Alice Folker’s exhibition OFF-GRID encapsulates those years when the two artists took over the demolished house and in addition to sculptures, paintings and photos, essentially made using the house’s debris and recycled materials, there is also an engaging video montage documenting the project.

The exhibition contains both individual works and joint works. When asked about the process of the collaboration, and its surprising and enviable cohesiveness, Frederik Næblerød replies “We have a good energy together, the same ideas, same vision… us working together came very naturally. I just have a good instinct with Casper”. But collaboration is not something he necessarily searches for as he also wants to focus on his own work. “I get offers from people to collaborate on projects, but sometimes you just have to do your own thing. It’s maybe only Casper that I really click with. After all, we’ve known each other for fifteen years and we still work together.” Frederik graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of fine arts in April 2018, an education that made it possible for him to experiment with different styles. “I haven’t really found my style yet. If I had to describe my work, I’d say it would fall into the category of expressionism. What I create is quite naive and childish, and also grotesque. But what’s most important for me is to keep experimenting and creating. I love using different mediums. Recently, I started doing prints and lithography which I really like. And when I paint I use all kinds of surfaces. I like to make raw canvasses, with different colours and all sorts of materials.” Even though Næblerød experiments with different themes, materials, mediums and styles, it all seems interconnected (he refers to his ceramics as “three dimensional versions” of his paintings) and his universe is very distinct. There are undoubtedly elements of grotesque in his work, for example with pieces such as Zamir and Harald, that have an almost monster-like quality. “I never think about shocking people with my work, but if it does, great. What I like to do is to confuse and challenge people, to make them sad or angry as opposed to maybe happy or pleased.” Næblerød describes his working process as very immediate and instantaneous which is very visible in his work. “I just follow an idea and make it into something concrete. I don’t turn to books or the internet and I don’t write things down. I can get an idea simply by going to the supermarket and buying bread” He does mention artists like Mark Rothko, Edvard Munch and Jonathan Meese, a German artist whose “energy and style” he really responds to, but he explains that he does not so much draw inspiration from them as simply like the work that they do. And has being Danish influenced his work at all? “Living in a country like Denmark we have freedom of speech and I am able to address subjects that are a bit far-out, even [taboo] subjects like pedophilia. If I was living in another country, maybe I wouldn’t have that freedom and I would probably think differently. So yes, I guess it has”.

In 2015, he and Casper Aguila found an abandoned house in the countryside north of Denmark, that became a two year project where both artists created sculptures, paintings, photos and installations. Referred to as an “art squat”, since they were never officially allowed to use the space, the house eventually gave in to the sea’s tempestuous waves and disappeared for good in 2017. “The house was given to us by nature and taken from us by nature” Aguila poetically recites. “It was an extremely good location and a nice setup. It also happened to be a place where a famous Danish poet used to reside called Kai Hoffman, who once wrote beautiful poetry. It was a nice location, on a deserted beach, and after hanging out there a lot we began making artworks and building things. People came to see it. The house became like a getaway for us, we just kept building and renovating it.” Aguila is mostly known for his photography but like Næblerød he likes to experiment and also does oil paintings, drawings and sculptures. “I don’t really think about which mediums I use. It’s more about the energy, the feeling, the action… if I feel a strong energy, I have to act on it.” Although he went to an art school in Florence for two years (“many many years ago”), he considers himself to be mostly self-taught and started out doing graffiti at a young age. He then goes on to describe his early photography, which he says were mostly snapshots of people he knew. “I didn’t think about it so much. I had a camera and just wanted to create memories whereas now I find inspiration everywhere. I include more landscapes, I find new places to go and see and try to capture them.” His photographs of the house in Korshage displayed at the exhibition are large and impressive, and truly capture the uniqueness of the project. Curious to know if there is a specific intention or reason behind his work, he responds pensively “I don’t think my work necessarily has a direct meaning. I make [art] to inspire or save memories. We do it for ourselves essentially, and it enables us to create the lives that we want to live, where we want to live it. Thanks to art you enter a world where there are no constraints, no one is telling you what to do or how to behave. Of course I’m expressing myself in my work, so there are undeniably hidden messages, but then again all art has some sort of meaning and that’s what people want!”

Alice Folker Gallery is one of those hidden gems that makes you discover new talents from Scandinavia and beyond, and that presents fresh and interesting artworks that are available to purchase at a fair price. But she insists that although the artworks are perhaps accessible price- wise, it should still be something that has been thought out properly, as each piece on display is unique and takes a lot of work. As for Folker herself, she describes her experience of buying artwork as very visceral and intuitive. “I wouldn’t call myself an art-collector as I don’t want to put a label on myself. When I buy works it’s usually because my heart starts to pound and I know I just really, really want to buy it. I am not on the lookout for something specific, I just rely on my intuition.” It goes without saying that intuition is probably a good call when making a decision to buy a piece, and evidently when it comes to choosing a place, like a deserted house, as a haven and creative space for making inspiring and intriguing art.

OFF-GRID from 15th January to 2 March 2019 @ Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhagen.

Team Credits:

Words by Roxanne Nielsen
Artists: Frederik Næblerød and Casper Aguila
Photos by Casper Aguila
Special thanks to the Alice Folker Gallery

Have you ever been to Shanghai, he asks me straightaway. It’s easy to get an idea of the curious mind behind his unique art in just a few seconds. “It really doesn’t look like it’s in a communist country,” he says. The friendly, calm voice on the other end of the line gives the impression that we could probably keep talking about Shanghai for another half-hour or so.

Shrigley has just arrived back in the UK from another destination on his tour that has been showcasing his art around the world. Over the past two years, the tour has made stops in Mexico, Chile, South Korea, New Zealand and now, last on the list, China. Most famous for his drawings accompanied with text, slogans and puns, Shrigley is an artist who is not particularly easy to get a grip of. His CV lists sculptures, large installations, animations, paintings, photography and music, contributing to a complex description of an artist. Among the many projects that have got the attention of the public, there have been collaborations with musicians including Franz Ferdinand and Blur, and his giant, 7-metre-high thumb, entitled Really Good, in Trafalgar Square, London. “I’ve kind of worked in almost every media there is,” he says, laughing. “Maybe apart from dance, but dance is on its way, you know. I’m sure it will arrive in the future.”

Growing up, his heroes were Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, and he took to the pen at an early age. After graduating from art school in the early 1990s, he returned to what he knew best. With limited funds and space, he came to create what soon would be the foundation and centre of his oeuvre. “It was the easiest and most economical way to say what I wanted to say. I have done it for my entire life. I never really intended that it be the centre of my practice, but I realised that it was my thing, so that was what it became,” he says.

After publishing his second book filled with the characteristic drawings, Shrigley ended up on the cover of what he describes as a “fancy” art magazine. “All of a sudden, everyone knew who I was, and that was that.” That was 23 years ago, and his work hasn’t stopped amusing and amazing people. “I never intended to be the ‘go-to guy’ for making funny drawings in the world of fine arts. But I sort of have become that guy,” he says. His style is truly unique in the art world, maybe best described as straightforward and simple, yet magnetic. His pieces are anything but boring – and the process isn’t either, he admits. “I’m trying to amuse myself all the time, not just to make myself laugh, but amuse myself in the sense that I’m trying to get to a place I have never been to before, and trying to do that by just making drawings a lot of the time.”

So is it art? Is it good? And who says so? Shrigley has come to challenge many basic norms of the art world since making his entry more than 20 years ago. Today, he looks at himself, his art and its place in different light. “So, the work is funny. I mean, it’s sort of unique in the world of fine art, in that it genuinely functions as comedy as well as art. It’s been a thing I always end up talking about – making funny art, and can funny art be serious, or taken seriously as art? And it’s a question I don’t really care about any more. Who cares, really? Who cares whether people take it seriously? I mean, people do take it seriously. I drive a brand-new Volvo, so… ” he says before breaking into laughter.

When asked to try to explain the success he has experienced over the years, he laughs again. “I never intended to be a success, but I’m very happy that I am. It was never anything I anticipated, and I really just do what comes naturally. I mean, my job is just to make art that I think is interesting, because I can’t expect anybody else to think it’s interesting unless I do.”

And now, his installation Exhibition of Giant Inflatable Swan-things, created exclusively for the Spritmuseum in Stockholm, is about to open. Unsurprisingly, the installation originates from what Shrigley calls a “bizarre idea”. From a typical Shrigley drawing, giant, three-dimensional swans designed as swimming-pool toys took shape. “There is something weirdly fascinating about changing shapes. Inflation and deflation, there is something about breathing, life and death somehow,” he says in a slightly dreamy voice. While nothing is quite as it seems in Shrigley’s universe, one thing is for sure: watching his work never gets boring.

Exhibition of the Giant Inflatable Swan-things, until March 31, 2019; Spritmuseum, Stockholm. For more information, visit spritmuseum.se or davidshrigley.com

Team credits: 

Words by Ted Hammerin
Artist: David Shrigley

Art & Photo credits: 

#1 Headshot by Craig Gibson 
#2 Self-portrait (2018) 
#3 Gold-shit (2018)
#4 A Pleasing Situation (2018)
#5 Knock Everything Down (2018) 
#6 Lies (2018) 
#7 Your Pizza has Arrived (2018) 
#8 4th Plint (2017), Photography by Linda Jablonsky 

Yony Leyser grew up in Chicago, where he studied writing, filmmaking and the dramatic arts, going on to start his career as a director at an early age. At 26 he finished his first feature-length film, William S Burroughs: A Man Within, which included appearances from icons such as Iggy Pop and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth.

In 2010, Leyser moved to Berlin and dedicated his next movie, Desire Will Set You Free (2015), to the ever-changing, vibrant German metropolis. Leyser believes Berlin has changed since he first got there – and that it has also changed him. The Forumist met up with him to find out what he thinks about transition and change, and why he believes hedonism is important to finding yourself.

How did Berlin change you?
“I first visited Berlin in 2007 during a university programme. I went out to explore squats, queer parties, housing collectives, demonstrations, vegan restaurants, bike shops, parks and cruising zones. I was in heaven and somehow managed to complete my course at the same time. I fell in love with the queer scene here, with the public space, with the ability to meet diverse groups of people, often with non-conformist views and a desire to defy. I moved here permanently in 2010. The city has changed a lot since I first arrived, and so have I. I became a much more comfortable person here, which was due in part to being able to be around people like me, in a queer community with support from my friends, with basic human rights that the United States deny, like health insurance, public transportation, bike lanes and the ability to survive and thrive. My last two films were heavily influenced by the city of Berlin. Now that I am in my thirties, my priorities have changed and I have entered a new dimension professionally, which is more difficult here, but I’m getting there.

Desire Will Set You Free feels like an homage to Berlin. What fascinates you about this city?
“The city of Berlin is the main character in the film. Berlin is a city of death and disparity, of rediscovery and rebirth, a city for the queer and demimonde, for the outsider and foreigner. I hope that identity remains. In Desire Will Set You Free we were trying to preserve this identity. Together with my producer Paula Alamillo, we set out to document all our friends and various nightlife icons, and the venues where we used to hang out before they disappeared. We wanted to pay back the city for all it did for us. The film was largely improvised and everyone played themselves. It features the who’s who of Berlin and I hope it will serve as a time capsule or yearbook of the 2010s.”

Your movies deal with topics such as hedonism, punk and queerness. What and who inspires your work?
“Some people who inspire me are John Waters, James Baldwin, J Halberstam, Gregg Araki, Ulrike Ottinger, JT LeRoy and David Wojnarowicz.”

How would you personally describe hedonism?
“I guess it’s the pursuit of pleasure and the here and now.”

Do you think it’s important to find yourself, to satisfy your desires?
“Learning and self-learning are important lifelong endeavours. We all adapt, grow, develop and change. Our goals, friend circles, lifestyles, political views, partners, sexual desires, self-views change as we gather experiences and grow older. I think it’s very important to explore our desires and the desires of others, to move forward and to avoid suppressing feelings and emotions that could become very detrimental.”

During your twenties, you went to punk shows on a regular basis. Was this a support system for you?’
“Yeah, I used to love punk. It was a very fun community to be a part of. It’s a deviant way of being subversive and I think that’s important in today’s political climate. Although I don’t really consider myself punk any more, I still appreciate punk.”

What fascinates you about punk in general?
“I guess it’s about rejecting the status quo, capitalism, forming communities of people with similar views by going to punk and rock shows. Growing up in America in the 1990s, I just saw consumerism as the main religion and talking point, so punk became a very attractive alternative.”

You chose to play Ezra, the main part in Desire Will Set You Free, yourself. How much of Yony was in this character?
“Ezra was a mix of me and some friends of mine at that time. I chose to play the character because everyone else was playing themselves and there was so much improvisation that playing that role became a way of controlling the scenes from the inside.”

And what was it like acting and directing at the same time?
“It was super-difficult. I am really happy that I did it and I think it made sense for Desire, but I don’t think I would do it again.”

Desire Will Set You Free deals a lot with hedonism, sexuality and self-discovery, topics you won’t find in many mainstream movies. Why do you think they’re still taboo/niche topics? And how would you like to change that?
“With films, funding usually goes to ideas that are safer, those that are considered safe investments. The really wild people with hot ideas rarely jive with the funding and production elements of making movies, but people are interested in seeing those things. I am so lucky to have my films supported by German film funds and I hope they will continue to take more risks with films covering these topics and include more minority voices.”

Do you think our society is too prudish sometimes?
“Definitely. I guess it’s because people are scared, but I think Berlin is one of the least-prudish cities that I have ever been to.”

What are you hoping to change in people’s minds with your work?
“I don’t know if I want to change people’s minds. Rather, I strive to portray under-represented communities and to creatively document interesting moments in recent history.”

How would you define the meaning of transition?
“Many people strive to achieve constants throughout their lives and aim for stability and sameness, but life is always in transition and I think that embracing change and our journey is key to attaining happiness and unlocking creativity. For me, being an artist and being queer imply embracing a life in transition, and our work can reflect on those transitions and shed light on elements of society that many people ignore.”

Team credits:

Words by Ole Siebrecht
Photography by Tom Kleinschmidt
Styling by Veronika Dorosheva
Makeup by Hyenaz
Talent: Yony Leyser and Hyenaz
Production: Veronika Dorosheva
Special thanks to: Karin Kruse, Ringo Kaufold, Antonia at Hermés, Soma and Phoebe at Fake PR and Aisha at Agency V

Fashion credits: 

#1 Jacket and Shoes: Talent’s own, Top and Trousers by Pringle of Scotland, Glasses by Ace & Tate  
#2 Shirt by Joseph, Sunglasses på Ace & Tate, Hyenaz wears Harness by Mad Kate and Exit
Waistcoat: Talent’s own, Trousers by Pringle of Scotland
#3 Filmstills from “Desire Set Free”
#4 Top, Trousers, Shirt and Shoes by Hermès, Glasses by Ace & Tate 
#5 Harness by Mad Kate and Exit 
#6 Filmstills from “Desire Set Free”

“Curiosity has always been a strong driving force for me, and my creations require me to push myself to achieve something for every separate layer. I love discovering and understanding new things before even considering the actual construction and implementation, which my team works on. Preparing a photography session is like planning an adventure or a small film shoot, and all the organisational requirements this entails gives my life balance.”

Goudal’s starting point is her own extensive research through which she’s searching for environments that catches her interest and that moves her in one way or another. Her way of working is both time-consuming and minutely detailed, and her endless journeys and expeditions all around the globe have come to have a strong impact on her art. Goudal finds sections from nature and cityscapes, frozen moments and extremely thought-out cutouts that she photographs and puts together with large placed-in photo prints. The photographs are constructed as theatrical sets. Appearing almost as optic illusions, Goudal’s scenes and landscapes are brought to life by her unique, eye-catching compositions. The build up of the pictures acts as a connection between earth and sky and between the observer and what lies behind the image, beyond our knowledge. In this way Goudal manages to capture more than just a moment in time, more than specific a place, overturning the the fundamental laws of nature and architecture.

The second you lay eyes on Goudal’s art, you float into a kind of infinity where you find yourself closer and closer to her art, both physically and spiritually. Standing there, with the tip of your nose almost touching the large photographs, you perceive their structure but still can’t quite make out the construction of the images. This is one the things that makes Goudal unique – her ability to both expose and reveal at the same time. In that moment, when you feel that everything is completely inexplicable, you can’t help but wonder if you are actually there, on that street, on that beach, or in that jungle – or if you are just dreaming after all. Maybe this is exactly what Goudal wants the viewers to experience – the sense of not knowing and the need to use one’s eyes and imagination. Drawing inspiration from both Renaissance and Baroque art, Goudal is no stranger to using visual tricks and multiple perspectives, inviting the observer to contemplate her art.

Her artworks are not only pictures with strikingly centered compositions, they are also two-dimensional sculptures that dare to take up the kind of space they need to tell their own, unique stories. They engage all of our senses – and using the full depth of your imagination, you can almost feel the cold air sweeping against your skin, hear the ocean curling up against the shore, and smell the fragrance of the massive object that you are curiously staring at. It’s hard not to feel anything surrounded by Goudal’s imposing and deeply moving art, which will continue to challenge our sense of space, reality and time for years to come. As Goudal herself puts it “a picture is a space you can live in.” Head over to Fotografiska to experience it yourself.

Exhibition “Stations” until November 18, 2018; Fotografiska, Stockholm. For more information, visit www.fotografiska.com 

Team credits: 

Artist & Photographer: Noémie Goudal 
Words by Melinda Urbansdotter

Photo credits:

#1 Station V
#2 Observatoire VIII (Pulpit 2)
#3 Observatoire VI (Stalingrad)
#4 Station VIII
#5 Station VII

Peep is an evolution in lighting and partition design that allows the visualization of optical phenomena that cannot ordinarily be seen.

Spectroscopy and moire are generated by viewing light and landscapes through high definition mesh and its movement.

For the material, we use high-definition mesh from NBC Meshtec Inc., which is a high-density weave of monofilament fibers with a diameter of 24μ-33μ. With a focus on the optical characteristics of mesh that is normally used for things such as medical filters or silkscreen printing plates, we are exploring new possibilities.

By capturing the ability of lighting to act as a device for peeping, and by using partition as a device that alters the scenery beyond, we are attempting to utilize mesh to expand the value of conventional products.

Peep was exhibited in Superstudio during Milan Design Week 2018.
(MATERIAL DESIGN EXHIBITION “TOKYO MATERIAL BYPASS”)

we+ is a contemporary design studio established in 2013 by Toshiya Hayashi and Hokuto Ando based in Tokyo. Toshiya graduated from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo and Hokuto graduated from Central Saint Martins in London. They develop their experimental approach to products, installations and graphics, by combining unconventional materials and technology to shift perspectives. Their works are represented by Gallery S. Bensimon in Paris and Spazio Rossana Orlandi in Milan. They also have been commissioned by a variety of partners including SONY, Marimekko, Issey Miyake and Mori Art Museum.

Team credits

Photography by Masayuki Hayashi
Artists HOKUTO ANDO & TOSHIYA HAYASHI / we+

Credits
# Lighting H85 L8.8 W8.8 [cm] High definition mesh, LED, Acrylic plastic, Solid surface
# Partition H90.7 / L9.8 / W80 [cm] High definition mesh, Acrylic plastic, Solid surface, Stepper motor